At the North Dakota State Fair Enduro Race, Brady Ganskop of Flaxton placed second, and his brother, Brandyn Ganskop finished fifth.

Outdoor Tales

THE WANNABE PRO

First off, I have to apologize for my tardiness on this column. I was supposed to be last week but was so excited to get out of town for our mid-summer vacation that I left without my laptop.

So all last week we were hanging out at the lake, visited Medora and got my guiding boat worked on. I was trying to find a good topic to write about for this week but nothing was really standing out.

Sunday morning my visit to Facebook brought up a post that reminded me of a gripe I have with the fishing industry.

Before I go any further a huge part of my job is promoting and testing gear for my sponsors. I stand behind integrity and using what you believe in. The credibility that goes with it sells way more product. This is a very serious part of the job and there is a lot of pride to it when done properly because you are solidifying your positions in the industry.

Ok, so back to my soapbox.

Sunday morning while strolling through Facebook I saw a post from a lady saying she has a marketing degree and loves the fishing industry. Any company that would pay her to promote their product she would do a great job.

Huh, it is that easy now, is it?

Give me free stuff and I will promote it, even if it is garbage, or until a better offer comes along.
I was actually somewhat stunned to read such a blatant post but can’t say I am surprised.

This goes with my big complaint about the fishing industry over the past few years. The willingness for people to get a five to ten percent discount on something and a cap from a company to be called “Pro Staff.”

Over the past few years the same people are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on jerseys with logos all over them to wear fishing and let people think they are a professional fisherman while on the water.

Back not too long ago when I was starting out, we worked hard with sponsors to get deals to be called pro staff but it was something very different.

It was professional staff and we had to work very hard to achieve some of these deals on the products that we really do use every day.
I remember sending many resumes out with no response or a rejection letter to follow.

For real sponsors this is still part of the grind to work into, it is part of the game but once you make it to a real sponsor it is a very prestigious place to be. It is the promotion that helps pay for the gear that makes being a successful guide service.

Companies have caught onto this desire to be a “pro” too and have made it more difficult for the rest of us too.

Many now have a “promotional staff,” the people who get the cap and some free stuff and in return the people have to spam the social media, promoting the products they use or think are cool.

It has gotten to almost epidemic proportions in social media with people actually getting mad and boycotting certain companies based on their people plugging the media feed and that doesn’t help anyone.

So the moral of the story is be true to yourself and keep your integrity intact. After all your name is the most valuable thing you have. Once that good name is tarnished, it’s over.